Between two kops

Chapter sixteen

Steven

The referee's final whistle echoed through the stadium, followed immediately by silence. The absolute worst kind of silence. The kind brought on by a painful defeat. Two one... One f*****g goal was enough to ruin our entire week.

"Come on, let's go, bro..." Victor yanked hard on the sleeve of my hoodie while I stood rooted to the spot in total disbelief, staring furiously at the wild celebrations and madness on the opposite side of the stands.

"We f*****g had them, bro..." I muttered bitterly through my teeth, taking heavy steps as I followed my crew out.

"What an absolute shitshow of a match, f**k my life..." Dean said angrily, spitting onto the concrete beside him.

While most of the fans stayed put in their seats waiting for our players to finally show up in front of the North stand and offer some kind of support, which, let's be real, they didn't deserve. At all tonight for me and my crew, the Derby was actually just beginning. All that pent up frustration and rage from the pitch immediately shifted in my head to the event coming up next. The arranged fight with the Grobari. A real street brawl, strictly hands, two pumped up crews, and one shared desire for blood.

The twenty or so of us chosen ones rushed up the concrete stairs and walked out through the main gate with completely cool heads. Outside, of course, there was a sea of regular police and riot cops, but not a single one of those uniform wearing scum had even the slightest clue what was actually brewing right behind their backs. At first glance, any of them would probably assume we were just another ordinary, disappointed crew of kids rushing to the nearest stop to catch a bus and head home asap. And then, just in case, a paddy wagon full of riot gear would trail us, suspecting we might pull some s**t along the way.

And while a lot of people in that moment would think, "Well, s**t, no brawl tonight, the cops are tailing us..." that would be the dumbest assumption ever. Especially considering how easily we always managed and never failed to mind f**k the cops into taking a wrong turn and completely losing sight of us. Dumb, useless cops...

Realistically speaking, they're all empty heads driven by the system, the regime, and pure corruption. In those police academies of theirs, they only teach recruits how to beat people up and hand out heavy fines to poor folks. And later, once they pass that so called school, they comfortably rake in bribe money and push seized drugs back onto the streets. And then those exact same individuals have the nerve to ask us dead serious why we hate the police so much?! You simply don't get into any kind of debate with people like that, considering there's a f*****g endless list of reasons why... Because at the end of the day, a cop can never be your brother.

We buzzed past Autokomanda at a fast pace, then cut through the dark alleyways between the apartment blocks. Right where the cops couldn't follow us in vehicles, and for them to go after us on foot through that labyrinth would be way too big of a risk for them. They had no choice left but to give up the chase and head back to the safe zone around the stadium itself. A classic trick we always caught them on with ease.

Night had fully fallen, which was our biggest and best ally right now. The park at our agreed spot was pitch black. Right where we were supposed to throw down with the Grobari. Far from the eyes of passersby, far from cameras and streetlights. Just us and them, nobody else.

We marched down the main pathway of that massive park, surrounded on all sides by dense trees and various wooden benches, mostly busted up or filthy with leftover food and drink cans. The main path was the only thing remotely lit, though even that was just by the dim, yellowish glow of old street lamps.

Not far from there, we suddenly bumped into a small group of girls. What the f**k were they even doing out here at this hour?!

One of them was short, with long blonde hair and an honestly killer body. Naturally, Victor went straight for her on the spot. Our boy always had a thing for blondes. Though to be fair, I wasn't much better in that department... The little blonde was with three other girls, a bit taller than her, all three brunettes. Damn, they weren't half bad either. All decked out in Nike gear, classic kids style, I figured.

"What's up, beautiful?" Victor addressed the blonde with a dumb grin as he slid up behind her.

In that instant, all four girls whipped around toward us, our entire crew pumped up and repping red and white fan gear. Even through the darkness from a distance, I could clearly see pure fear in their eyes. They looked at us like we were a pack of rabid monsters ready to pounce on them for no reason at all... When in reality, we were just waiting for those stinking Grobari.

"Hey..." the blonde said quietly, only after Victor stepped directly in front of her on the path.

"What's your name, beautiful?" Victor jumped straight in with the corniest line possible.

"Anastasija," she said softly.

"Ooh, a gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl..."

What a retard, bro... I thought to myself, laughing my ass off inside. He didn't even drop a halfway decent line from his sleeve. I was convinced he wasn't going to pull that blonde in the purple Nike TNs so easily. We were just f*****g wasting time. I mean, Victor was wasting our time right before the action.

"Yeah, thanks... Genius..." the blonde shot back at him with a slight, provocative smile.

"Come on, Victor, dammit! What the hell is your problem, bro, leave the girls alone now!" John grabbed him from behind and yanked him hard toward us so we could keep moving. We had a heavy brawl coming up in a couple of minutes, and he was out here chatting up and picking up chicks in these serious moments...

"Ha, so your name is Victor?" the blonde called out after him as the guys dragged him away.

Victor tried to break free, turn back, and answer the girl, but John along with a couple of other guys quickly stopped him. We had to go, s**t. The Grobari were waiting for us in the meadow, and I never liked being late for stuff like that.

I stepped a step closer to the girls, my face cold to let them know the situation was no joke at all.

"Go home, girls... Right now."

All four of them looked at me with immense caution and stood up from that wooden bench without a word. Luckily, they got the message and hurried off toward the exit of the park. At least they weren't causing any unnecessary drama. And the last thing I needed right now was some random girls being living witnesses to a police ready street fight.

"Damn, look at what a catch I just let slip because of these f*****g Grobari..." Victor said disappointedly, looking back over his shoulder as he walked.

Most of us burst out laughing at Victor's statement in a second. The chick really was more than worth noticing, but whatever... wrong time and entirely the wrong place, my brother. Better luck next time, I guess.

We finally reached the very other end of the park. Everyone in the crew was in a positive and fired up mood, which at this extremely tense moment was crucial for all of us. I stepped right into the front row and in the distance, through the thick darkness, spotted a bunch of Grobari already waiting impatiently for us to show up on the clearing.

"Ooo, look who finally decided to show up, little gypsy's?! I seriously thought you punks wouldn't even show tonight," one of them, probably the leader of their crew, said and took a confident step forward out of the dark.

"I told myself, bet those gypsy little girls chickened out and ran home to hide under their blankets."

"Well, look, bro... our boy got distracted by a blonde in the park on the way here, so we were running a bit late, my bad," I said with a relaxed laugh, not biting into his provocation for even a second.

"Oh yeah, huh?! Well, your boy won't have to worry about chicks ever again... Because when we send you back to factory settings tonight, you'll have plenty of lovely company from young nurses at the ER!" that same guy of theirs said with a sly, sinister smile.

"You talk way too much, bro, for a regular Grobar..." I shot back coldly, stepping right up to his face through the dark.

And then, barely a few seconds later, the exact thing we were all anticipating both sides, finally happened. Without another word uttered, we charged at full speed toward the Grobari, and they bolted straight at us. In that single, split second, we practically collided into one massive, feral mass, striking and trampling everything in our path.

I rushed straight at a guy who was easily taller than me by a good two full heads. A f*****g giraffe of a man. Before I could even establish some distance, he swung his left arm and landed his massive fist right on my cheek, just under my eye. Right there at the start of that night, I felt such a brutally solid, heavy blow directly to my face for the first time.

My head buzzed for a second, and the taste of blood instantly filled my mouth. But there was no backing down. I quickly threw both hands up into a tight guard and started defending myself carefully, blocking his next swings, all the while waiting for that one single clean moment and enough space to return the favor to the guy who was coming at me like a rabid dog...

While my cheek was still throbbing from the first hit I took, I whipped my right hand out straight into his exposed jaw. His head snapped back, but the bastard didn't drop. He just spat out blood and smirked. I'm gonna wreck you, you giraffe.

The guy came at me hard again. This time I managed to dodge the left hook, but his elbow caught me across the lip. A dull pain rippled through my body, and that's when the adrenaline kicked into overdrive.

From my left side, I heard Victor's raspy voice cutting through the chaos.

"Hit him, damn it!"

I whipped my head around just in time to see Victor tackling a Grobar over a bench, while John was rolling around on the ground with another guy. Somewhere behind me, someone let out a yell so loud it made my blood run cold.

"Stop! Police!" a harsh shout echoed from the darkness across the entire clearing and forced all of us to freeze in our tracks in a second.

I snapped my head up, wiping the blood from my lip, and looked back. A large group of riot cops was charging in a full stampede straight at us in full gear. Shields, long batons, and an occasional pistol raised in the air as an open threat if anyone dared to oppose them... Even though all of us here knew damn well they didn't actually have the guts to shoot any of us.

"Run, cops!" yelled one of the Grobari who had been lying on the ground a second ago. His panicky voice seemed to snap all of us out of some weird trance at the exact same time.

Anyone who found themselves on the ground at that moment jumped to their feet at lightning speed and started running blindly through the dark.

"Come on, Steven! Let's get the hell out of here!" Dean yelled out to me, and only then did I pull myself together and break into a full sprint with the group of guys ahead of me.

All together, completely mixed up without any order, Delije and Grobari, who had been beating the living hell out of each other just moments before. Were fleeing from the raging riot police in the same direction, toward that other hidden exit from the park, in a desperate hope that none of the cops would intercept and bust us without much trouble over there.

"Stop! I'll shoot, dammit!" a riot cop roared from behind our backs.

I glanced back in a flash while running full tilt and spotted a couple of guys who simply hadn't managed to get away in time. They were lying helplessly on their stomachs in the dirty grass as cops aggressively slapped cuffs on their wrists...

Christina

"You scared me earlier..." Nick said suddenly, his voice filled with genuine sympathy and emotion as he gently parked his car directly across the street from my house.

"I just took a light spill, Nick... It's really nothing serious," I replied in a fairly exhausted tone, resting my head against the cold glass of the window.

The big victory over Crvena Zvezda, of course, brought me immense joy deep down in my soul, but despite that fan happiness, I was still under the weight of a huge, agonizing impression from that sudden fight up in the stands. I could have easily caught a serious beating myself along the way, completely without any provocation or fault of my own. All those heavy impressions and thoughts simply wore me down during the ride, and physical exhaustion overpowered me so easily and brutally that in that moment, I literally felt like a freight train had just run over me.

"Come on, I'll at least walk you to the front door..."

"You don't have to, Nick, really. I'm fine, I can manage those few feet on my own."

"I insist, Christina, it's out of the question to leave you alone on the street," he didn't back down at all, until I finally gave up and let him have his way.

He got out of the car first, quickly walked around, and opened the passenger door for me extremely gentlemanly so I could step out like a proper lady. I got up from the seat with a heavy movement and took a few slow, easy steps out into the fresh night air.

My parents were already sound asleep inside the house, so I didn't have to worry about their reaction at all or having to make excuses to either of them right now for why I was late. Dad finally returned from his business trip earlier this evening, which also meant that tomorrow, right after school, I'd have my hands full with heavy conversations with the two of them about my grades and behavior.

Nick silently walked me all the way to the front door of the house. He stood directly in front of me and waited calmly to make sure with his own eyes that I'd step safely inside. Honestly, I really liked that gentle, caring, and protective side of his... If only he showed it to me a bit more often and openly in everyday life, everything between us would definitely be so much easier, calmer, and happier...

I crossed the threshold and turned around to look at Nick once more. He was still standing there, motionless, staring at me without blinking even once. Poor sweet soul...

"Do you want to come inside for a minute?" I asked him softly, holding onto the doorknob.

"Do you really want me to come inside, Christina?" he looked at me confused, staying frozen in place for a moment, as if he hadn't expected an invitation like this from me at all.

"Yeah... I want you to, Nick. Come in."

In that moment, he smiled with total sincerity. That exact beautiful, warm smile I fell head over heels in love with so long ago. I moved aside from the front door and let Nick step softly inside. On tiptoes, we went up the wide staircase and literally sprinted into my bedroom upstairs, making sure my parents wouldn't happen to hear our footsteps and catch Nick with me in the middle of the night.

Otherwise, my parents really do like Nick Petrović and respect his family, but they still strictly forbid us from sleeping together in the same room or spending time late at night at my place or his. As if I were still some barely fifteen year old kid who isn't allowed to have any kind of relationship until she finally grows up and matures in their eyes.

I closed the wooden door of my room barely audibly, took a few steps, and turned around to face Nick, who had already consciously and comfortably taken over my large bed.

"Just be quiet, please... My parents will kill us if they catch us here in my room after midnight."

"Don't worry at all. Nobody's gonna hear us," he said quietly, looking at me with that glint in his eyes as he sank back into the pillows.

I silently turned the key in the lock, releasing the heavy silence that instantly took over the room. Outside, the wind rattled softly against the windowpane, while inside here, in my room, only the two of us remained along with that familiar scent of his cologne slowly filling the space.

I watched him as he was so attentive tonight... He seemed wonderful, just the way I used to want him to be, without that jealousy, aggression, and constant need to control everything. Which was, after all, the reason we took this break in the first place. We hadn't officially broken up, but we weren't really together anymore either. A heavy grey zone. But instead of feeling that old closeness now that he was finally acting normal, there was only an emptiness in my chest. I didn't even know what I was doing with myself anymore.

I opened the drawer of my huge wardrobe and pulled out a plain, oversized cotton t-shirt and cotton pajama shorts.

"Look away for a second while I change," I said quietly, careful not to let my voice carry beyond the room.

Nick let out a soft laugh, covering his eyes with his hand alongside a half audible sigh. "Like I'm seeing you for the first time in my life..."

I quickly shed my clothes and slipped into the shorts and t-shirt. Then I walked over to the bed, switched off the small nightstand lamp, and crawled under the long, soft duvet, sitting next to him.

"If you're tired, should I leave?"

"I am tired. But I can't stay alone either. Sleep here with me, Nick... Please..."

"Alright. I'll get up early, before your parents wake up."

"Thank you, Nick."

Nick stared at me through the dark for a few seconds, then his eyes drifted down over my t-shirt and shorts. His forehead creased slightly in disbelief.

"You're sleeping dressed like that?" he asked, confused, propping himself up on his elbow.

"Yeah..." I replied briefly, adjusting the pillow behind my head and staring at the ceiling.

"You never had a problem sleeping with me in your underwear before," Nick said with a noticeable edge of surprise in his voice.

He knew, just like I did, that this break of ours was hanging by a thread. I guess he thought that by stepping into this room he had won and we'd just pick up right where we left off.

"I'm just more comfortable like this, Nick..." I said quietly, but cold enough to shut down any attempt at intimacy. "I'm just tired. Please, let's not open up any topics right now."

He let out a heavy sigh, realizing there would be no breaking through that wall tonight. He probably assumed I was just shaken up from the stands and had lost the mood, so he sank back onto the pillow. He pulled me toward him gently and laid his arm across my waist, while I remained lying on my back, completely frozen.

What are you doing, Christina? Making a fool out of yourself, consciously... Inviting Nick to sleep beside you, while all day long you've been thinking about nothing but Steven and the joint project we're supposed to do and study together. Ugh, I'm gonna kill myself, f**k.

"Goodnight, Nick."

"Goodnight, Christina."

Soon, his steady breathing in the quiet of the room signaled that he had fallen asleep. But me... I lay wide awake, my head burning. Nick was right there, beside me, within arm's reach. The guy who was my safe choice, my habit. But my thoughts... my damn thoughts floated all the way to the other side of town again in that darkness. In the middle of this silence, while Nick slept next to me, Steven was the only thing before my eyes... Wondering where he was at this moment, whether he was okay after the match, and if on this exact same night he was lying alone somewhere, thinking about everything too.